Philippe Matthews Show Guru Advice, Author Reviews, Tech Reviews, Entertainment News

Winter blues, spring fever--most of us take seasonal changes in mood for granted. According to a new study, the cause might be the seasons tinkering with the chemicals in our brain. As reported in the November 3 Journal of Neuroscience , researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health found evidence of seasonal differences in dopamine--a chemical messenger involved in motivation, pleasure, movement and learning.

For many years psychologists have explored whether narcissism and creativity are linked, and some studies have suggested that the self-obsessed may, in fact, be more creative than the rest of us. But new research from Cornell University argues otherwise. Two hundred and forty-four under

If you’re serious about rescuing all your analog memories before it’s too late--before the recording media or playback devices fade away--one thing is for sure: the task ahead will be either time-consuming or expensive. In each case, you can either do the digitizing yourself, or you can send your recordings away to a company that does it for you. If you’re committed, though, it’s a very satisfying project.

Sooner or later every format goes digital.

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A giant softshell turtle known as Cu Rua that has been living in Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi, Vietnam, for more than a century is one of the last four members of its critically endangered species, Rafetus swinhoei . The freshwater animal weighs about 200 kilograms and is worshiped as a deity that protects the city, but neither its size nor its stature has prevented it from being injured recently by fishermen and an aggressive invasive species.

During the morning of April 6, our colleagues at Nature ran a live, online question-and-answer event about the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis . Visitors posted questions for Jim Smith, an environmental physicist from the University of Portsmouth, U.K., and Geoff Brumfiel, Nature’s senior physical sciences correspondent. Brian Owen served as moderator.

By Ewen Callaway of Nature magazine A retina made in a laboratory in Japan could pave the way for treatments for human eye diseases, including some forms of blindness. Created by coaxing mouse embryonic stem cells into a precise three-dimensional assembly, the 'retina in a dish' is by far and away the most complex biological tissue engineered yet, scientists say

Dear EarthTalk : Recently the U.N. voted to declare access to safe and clean water a “human right ” . Isn’t that a no-brainer

Come 2013, the burliest rocket in the world may belong not to NASA, Boeing or any of the other traditional heavy-hitters in the aerospace field. It will belong to a relative newcomer, if start-up spaceflight firm SpaceX has its way

Solar cells convert sunlight to electricity. But they don’t take advantage of all that solar heat, thereby missing out on the majority of the solar energy reaching the cell. The sun’s heat can be captured to warm up liquid that can then warm a building’s water, but those devices don’t generate electricity

Environmental groups yesterday pressed U.S.

* Nitrogen pumped into reactor to prevent hydrogen explosion * Nuclear crisis far from under control [More]

One of the great things about life in 2011 is the technology of television.

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